DEER PARK, Texas — A 51-year-old La Porte man has been identified by police as the driver of an SUV that crashed through a fence and into a valve, sparking a massive pipeline fire that burned for days in the Deer Park area earlier this month.
Deer Park police said the Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office was able to identify Jonathan McEvoy as the driver of the Lexus NX350. They're still trying to figure out what caused the crash.
The fire burned for about 80 hours after McEvoy crashed into the valve on Sept. 16. Once the fire burned out, investigators were able to recover his body and open an investigation into what happened.
The fire started just before 10 a.m. Monday at Spencer Highway near East Boulevard near the Brookglen neighborhood. That same evening, the City of Deer Park confirmed the fire was caused by a vehicle crashing through the fence of a nearby Walmart and hitting an above-ground valve.
Hundreds of residents who were evacuated when the pipeline burst into flames were allowed to return on Wednesday but a lot of them had major damage to their homes and vehicles. One family said they weren't able to find one of their missing cats.
A transportation company's work vehicle inadvertently recorded the crash and explosion on video from across the street.
Witnesses said they saw the vehicle speeding before crashing through a fence and hitting the valve.